Many distributed computing networks today are being implemented via a distributed virtual infrastructure, also referred to as a cloud infrastructure. The term “cloud” describes a collective computing platform that implements a cloud computing paradigm. For example, as per the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST Special Publication No. 800-145), cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
Given the prevalence of the cloud computing paradigm in distributed computing networks today along with its on-demand capabilities, service providers are adding available cloud services to such networks on a daily basis. Discovering and evaluating such services, however, has become a challenge for an enterprise.
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), as defined in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request For Comments 4510, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, is one example of a directory protocol that provides an adequate set of service discovery operations for an enterprise inside the firewall protection of the enterprise itself (i.e., within the intranet of the enterprise). However, when an enterprise wants to extend those services (or find new services) by connecting internal resources or endpoints to cloud services outside its intranet, this can be challenging. Among other challenges, the general heterogeneity of cloud services and the underlying components that are encapsulated in the service are particularly challenging for the discovery and evaluation process.